The Burned-Over District is a term used by some to describe the region of Western New York in the historical period of 1800-1850. It is also sometimes called the Second Great Awakening with a combination of religious, social and political elements.

Friday, March 4, 2016

The "Well-merited Death" of "Movement Conservatism"

"Beginning in the 1970s and into the Reagan years, new voices—the self-denominated Neoconservatives—migrated into the movement, and many of these voices came from the Trotskyite Left, many traumatized by the revelations of unspeakable Soviet brutality or anti-semitism," reminds Boyd D. Cathey — Is It Time to Turn Reagan’s Picture to the Wall? He notes, however, one, last hope:

Sometimes it takes a veritable bull-dozer, an unruly wrecking ball, to clear away the detritus, before a real renaissance can occur. In 2016 just possibly that agent of change may be Donald Trump. Trump has taken identifiably Old Right positions on American overseas intervention, Russia and Syria, US trade policies, and immigration, and he knows that his enemies come from the Neocon intelligentsia and their GOP camp followers. None of the other candidates will or can pull off a revolution. It may be a slim hope, but The Donald just might. And if he does that nasty, thankless job, we are willing to forgive him a whole list of personal sins. For the times are truly perilous, and 2016 may well offer our last chance.